{Huntington, West Virginia}...The Sierra Club, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and Coal River Mountain Watch filed a lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Huntington against two Alpha Natural Resources subsidiaries, claiming selenium discharges from Independence Coal's Crescent No. 2 Surface Mine in Boone County and Marfork Coal's 7 billion-gallon Brushy Fork impoundment in Raleigh County exceed state water quality standards for selenium, violating federal clean water and surface mining laws. The lawsuit says federal and state regulators have not taken any action since the plaintiffs notified them of the alleged violations and the intent to sue. The groups say many local residents are concerned about their ability to evacuate if the Brushy Fork impoundment failed. The groups say such an event would eclipse the 1972 Buffalo Creek dam collapse that killed 125 people. The groups' members say they have refrained from fishing, swimming and other recreational activities because of the selenium discharges into tributaries of the Big Coal and Little Coal Rivers.
